Exploring the world on my bicycle

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EU Day 07: Riding Usti Nad Labem (CZE) to Prague (CZE)

This was a big ride, although luckily my hotel had brochures for the Elbe River cycle ways, which covered the first 100km.

The day started off nicely, with breakfast ready in the dining room and overcast skies outside. It was easy to navigate on this trip because there were signs at every turn for the various routes and the Elbe River to follow too. Unfortunately my phone died and I lost all of my pictures. I should have backed them up earlier, but at least I had a few loaded on Strava.

I chose to break up the day into thirds; Roudnice Nad Labem for lunch, Melnik for a rest before the 50km stretch into Prague.

I downloaded an app the night before, Maps2Go and it turns out it was running in the background and draining my battery. I made a stop to have a drink and charge my phone for nearly an hour. It was about 1.30 and with clear skies, the heat was quite harsh. Everyone around me was shirtless and drinking, so I just copied them too (except for drinking juice instead of beer). It was relaxing to sit on the river and watch the cyclists go by, I spotted over 30 fellow tourers today.

Then I headed to Melnik and managed to pick up a lot of speed on these perfectly flat paths. For the first 100km I was averaging 20km/hr, which is pretty good, considering I had 10kg of stuff.

The last 20km leading into Prague was the hardest, without knowing where the cycle paths were, I struggled quite a bit. I ended up on highways, close to a fair amount of traffic, but there were other cyclists doing the same thing too. I stopped at the first available shop and I was drenched in sweat. The shop owner looked quite concerned and oddly, she reminded me of my mum. After I bought my stuff I sat under a tree outside and cooled down. She came over and asked me if I spoke Vietnamese and we ended up talking for half an hour or so and she even gave me a boiled yam. I appreciated the carbs boost and the chance to speak the same language to someone.

It was approaching 5.30 and I reluctantly left. I made it to my hostel just after 7 and I was exhausted. I picked a restaurant 300m away for dinner and I was destroyed and in bed by 9pm.

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Ahoj Jenny! Great to see you have made it to Czech. Loved Prague – also Cesky Krumlov was probably my favourite spot (170km south of Prague i.e. might be a bit out of the way for you). Enjoy! Safe travels.

Ahoj! That’s one of two Czech words I successfully learned, the language is tricky. Pete Rae said the same thing about Cesky Krumov (we’re friends on Strava), I must come back to explore it. I enjoyed the area much more than I expected and I saw so many different bike trails along the way too. Cheers!